Haim just ’28 copies away’ from snatching album chart top spot from Justin Timberlake

Haim only need to sell 29 copies of Days Gone By to overtake Justin Timberlake in the album charts (Picture: Supplied)

The battle between Haim and Justin Timberlake for the number one spot in the album charts has intensified, with just 28 sales reportedly separating the two acts.

Midweek sales figures showed that Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 – was leading the Californian sisters’ debut Days Are Gone by 700 sales.

As of Friday morning, however, Haim had narrowed the gap to just double figures – and could be on course to deprive Timberlake of his fourth No 1 UK album on Sunday’s chart.

The trio – consisting of sisters Este, Alana and Danielle Haim – had their profile boosted last weekend after performing their new single The Wire on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC1.

Justin Timberlake could be on course for his fourth UK number one album (Picture: Getty Images)

Bass player Este dedicated the performance to Prime Minister David Cameron, who was also appearing on the show, saying: ‘That was for you DC, it’s all about you.’

The gap between the top two tracks in the singles chart has also narrowed since the midweeks were announced, with OneRepublic now posing a serious challenge to The Vamps’ Can We Dance.

Earlier in the week around 13,000 sales were separating the two songs, but by Friday OneRepublic were only 6,000 sales behind the chart newcomers.

If OneRepublic triumph it will be the band’s first number one single in the UK – although lead singer Ryan Tedder has previously triumphed as the writer of Leona Lewis’ chart-topper Bleeding Love and Ellie Goulding’s recent number one Burn.